Zack's First Broken Arm
by MayDayGirl-Save-Our-Ships
Summary: When Zack breaks his arm due to Murphy's Law, he quickly realizes there is a question he needs to answer: How much pain is his friendship with Milo worth?
1. Zack's First Broken Arm

**Hi guys, you might have seen this fic on tumblr or other places, but ever since this site finally got a section for MML fanfiction, I wanted to post it here too. This is a two-part series, I hope you like it.**

 **For future readers: This whole story was written when MML just came out, so if anything doesn't fit with the newer episodes, that is why.**

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 **Chapter 1: Zack's First Broken Arm**

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A run away bulldozer, a short cliff and some spiky bushes at the bottom to catch his fall. In all honesty, Zack was lucky he only came away with a broken arm.

It had been the most painful experience of Zack's life, and now he was stuck with this cast for six to eight weeks. In the back of his mind, Zack always knew this was coming. He had chosen to be Milo's friend and he saw how often Milo got hurt. Zack just never fully believed it would happen to him, or that it would be so painful.

The door opened to his hospital room, and a spunky redhead walked inside.

"Melissa!" Zack greeted happily. It was nice to see someone other than nurses and doctors for a change. His parents had been there, but they left for a few hours and would be back soon with his Gameboy so he wouldn't be completely bored.

"Hey, Zack. How are you feeling?"

"Like my arm is broken, so not great," he answered honestly. He really wished the nurses would give him another dose of that pain medication.

Melissa frowned. "Yeah, that was a pretty bad fall. I'm glad it wasn't worse."

"Me too."

"Milo will be here in a minute," Melissa said. "He had some trouble with… well, you know how it is."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I get it. I'm just glad to have some visitors. I was getting pretty bored in here."

To Zack's surprise, Melissa pulled herself up to sit on his bed, her feet still hanging over the edge.

"Listen, Zack, I wanted to talk to you about something before Milo gets here."

Zack decided he didn't like her serious voice, it made him nervous. "Uhh, okay? What is it?"

"I'm just going to get straight to the point: Are you planning to stop hanging out with Milo and me?"

Zack stared. "What?"

Melissa sighed. "It's not a hard question. You got a broken arm because you were hanging out with Milo. It's possible that it will happen again, and maybe it will be worse next time. We won't think less of you if you decided that you can't hang out with us anymore."

Zack raised a confused eyebrow at her. "Yes you will."

She smirked. "Okay, maybe I will, but you know Milo wont. He understands more than anyone how hard it can be to deal with Murphy's law. He's… used to not having a lot of close friends. He won't take it personally. Plus, you will still see us at school."

Zack shook his head. "But that's not what I want."

"But you also don't want another broken arm."

Zack hesitated. "No, I don't want that either."

There was an awkward silence between them as Zack looked down at his cast.

"Do you really think this will happen again?" he asked fearfully. "How many times have you gotten hurt?"

Melissa shrugged. "Gotten hurt? Plenty of times. Gotten seriously injured? Three or four. Usually it's only Milo that gets badly hurt, but anything that can go wrong…"

"Right," Zack said, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I get it."

"It's okay, Zack. Milo will understand-"

"I'm not abandoning him," Zack snapped angrily.

Melissa's eyes widened at the harshness of his voice.

"And I don't know why you think I will!" He glared at her. "Why are you trying to get rid of me? I thought we were friends too."

"We are friends," Melissa said sternly. "And that's why I need to make sure you're not just sticking around because of misguided loyalty or some stupid feelings of obligation. If you hang around Milo, it's because you want to and because you think he's worth the risks."

"I _do_ want to-"

Melissa leaned forward until she was right in his face, and Zack felt himself lean back into his pillows. "If this happens again, if you get hurt because of Murphy's law, then you can't blame Milo-"

"I don't-"

"If you stick around, it's your own choice," Melissa interrupted before he could finish. "You can't blame him, not even a tiny bit, because he will know. He will be able to tell if you're starting to resent him. Then Milo will be unhappy, and you will be unhappy." Melissa pointed her index finger directly at his face and he had to cross his eyes to look at it. "And I hate it when my friends are unhappy. That includes you, Zack."

Melissa pulled away, giving him some space to breathe.

"I like you," Melissa admitted. "I think you're braver than you give yourself credit for and you keep us both grounded, but I don't want you to hang out with us because you feel like you _have to_. That's not what friendship is."

Zack let out a breath. "Yeah, I think I get what you're trying to say."

"You've lasted longer with us than anyone else has," Melissa continued. "And Milo thinks you're going to stop hanging out with us now. Most people don't stick around past the broken limb stage. So, if you want to leave, now is the best time, since he's already expecting it."

The door to the hospital room opened and the two kid's heads snapped around to see a disheveled Milo enter the room. He was still breathing hard, obviously still recovering from the last thing Murphy's law threw at him.

"Zack!" Milo shouted. His eyebrows knotted up in worry, but a large grin stretched across his face, as if seeing Zack was the highlight of his day. "I'm so sorry, Zack. Are you okay?"

Any complaint that Zack had about the pain in his arm dissolved in an instant when he saw how guilty Milo looked. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's not so bad here and the nurses give me all the free ice cream I want."

"Milo requested you get put in the Murphy Suite," Melissa explained. "It's probably the best room in the entire hospital."

"I'm really sorry this happened," Milo apologized again. "I don't know what to say."

"It's not your fault," Zack assured him, but the guilt was still clinging to Milo's face as the boy shoved his hands in his pockets. It wasn't often that Milo was without his cheery demeanor. It was in this moment that Zack noticed another thing off about his friend. Milo hadn't moved more than a few feet away from the door he entered, leaving a whole room between them.

"I know it's not technically my fault, but it did still happen because of me," Milo explained. "But don't worry, I'm sure you will get better before you know it! And everyone will want to sign your cast, so there's a silver lining."

Zack smiled. There was the optimistic friend he knew.

"And don't worry, Zack, I totally understand. Me and Melissa will miss hanging out with you at lunch and after school, but we will still see each other all the time!"

"Huh?" Zack glanced at Melissa who was watching him with an unreadable expression. He looked back at Milo. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't want you to break anything else, and that will probably happen again if we keep hanging out."

There was a pause between them as Zack studied his friend's face.

"Yeah, it might," Zack agreed at last. "Is that the reason why you're all the way over there?"

Milo chuckled uncomfortably. "Just in case. I don't want to be responsible for you getting hurt twice in the same day."

"So this is the plan now, huh?" Zack asked indignantly. He was surprised by his own anger, but he didn't like Milo making his decisions for him. "You're just going to be friends with me from ten feet away, just like you do with the other kids?"

Milo blink at him. "Well, yeah… I don't want _that_ to happen again." Milo motioned to Zack's arm. "And I'm sure you don't either."

Zack growled to himself as he swung his feet over the edge of his bed, causing Melissa to stand up in order to get out of his way. Using his good hand, Zack pushed himself to his feet.

"Zack, what are you doing?" Milo asked worriedly. "You should lie down!"

Zack crossed the room until he was right in front of Milo. Milo took a step back in surprise.

Without hesitation, Zack clasped his good hand over Milo's shoulder.

"That plan sucks, man." Zack couldn't help but grin at Milo's shocked face. "And seriously, a broken arm, Milo? You're going to have to try harder than that if you're trying to get rid of me."

Milo finally managed to pull himself from his stupor. "Zack, you don't have to-"

"I'm not your friend because I have to," Zack said, thinking back to Melissa's speech. "I'm your friend because I want to be. To be honest, I was really worried about moving here," Zack admitted in embarrassment. "I was worried I wouldn't make any friends because everyone would already know each other and I would just be left out. But you included me in everything, even though you barely knew me. I can't believe I was lucky enough to meet my best friends on my first day."

"Zack, you're my best friend too, but-" Milo protested weakly.

"Milo, stuff happens," Zack interrupted him before Milo could protest any further. "People get hurt, but if I lived my life in fear of something bad happening, then I would never do anything. If I get hurt again, then whatever, I get hurt again," Zack shrugged. "That doesn't mean it will be your fault. I'm choosing to hang around you. That's my choice."

Milo just stared at him, dumbfounded. Then, Milo seemed to disappear from view as Zack felt something warm crash into him, almost knocking him over. Milo clung to him, giving him the tightest hug he had ever received.

Zack chuckled and hugged his friend back with one arm. Milo had tried to pretend that he was okay with Zack distancing himself from him, but this crushing hug proved otherwise. Even though Milo would never admit it, and even though Milo liked his "condition" for the most part, Zack was sure he was tired of losing people.

Zack was surprised to feel another arm around him as Melissa joined the hug. After a moment, Zack pulled away to get a good look at her face, and she nodded at him approvingly.

He smiled back.

Melissa's arms were hooked over the two boy's shoulders, keeping them all together.

"Looks like we're stuck with each other then," Melissa said with a laugh, knocking her head lightly against theirs. "Now come on, best friend privilege says that we get to sign Zack's cast first!"

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 **Please don't forget to review!**


	2. Zack's Second Broken Arm

**This is the last part of this fic! Enjoy!**

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 **Chapter 2: Zack's Second Broken Arm**

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He seemed to be in some sort of muddy ditch. The storm, the flash flood… it was all coming back to him now. The flood had come out of nowhere and landed them high in a tree; the only thing stopping them from plummeting to the ground was a thin branch. Unfortunately, it couldn't hold both of them and it snapped. That was the last thing he remembered.

Wait. Milo! Was he okay?

Zack looked around frantically, but his vision blurred again with tears. Why did broken bones have to hurt so much?

"Zack, are you okay?" The voice that was calling him seemed distant and muffled. Zack figured the possibility he had a concussion was incredibly high right now.

Milo's worried face came into his field of view. He looked tattered and torn, but otherwise, unharmed.

"Y-yeah," Zack croaked out. "Relatively speaking." He held his arm closer to his chest. "I think it's broken."

"Oh no, Zack, I'm so sorry!"

Zack shook his head, which ended up being a terrible idea as the forest spun around him. "N't your fault. You okay?"

"I'll live," Milo said cheerfully. "Hold on, I think I have a sling in my backpack for your arm.

Milo shrugged off his backpack slower than usual and produced a blue sling. He helped fit it around Zack's arm with probably more expertise than most nurses. Immediately, Zack felt the difference as some of the strain was taken off his bone.

"Come on, let's get out of this ditch," Milo said.

Milo grabbed him around the waist and helped him to his feet. Zack wrapped his good arm around Milo's shoulders and tried to keep himself steady as the world spun again.

"Just one foot after the other," Milo said in a chipper tone. He sounded as if they were going for a stroll in a park, not trying to drag themselves out of what could have been an early grave.

They were half way up the ditch when Zack realized there was something wrong with Milo.

Zack had been leaning on Milo for support when the boy had begun shaking underneath him. Alarmed, Zack halted their progress and looked over at his friend. Milo was paler than usual and his eyebrows were knotted together in intense concentration.

"Milo, you don't happen to have an injury from the fall, do you?"

Milo looked over at him, an embarrassed grin spreading across face. "I-I might have broken a rib," he admitted. "But it's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

Zack's eye's widened, and immediately pulled away from his friend for fear of hurting him. Milo stumbled and fell against his side.

"A rib! That's way worse than a broken arm!" Zack cried. "That can be really dangerous!"

Zack's good arm found its way securely around Milo's torso in an attempt to hold him steady. He hoped he wasn't hurting him further, but he couldn't let Milo fall back into the ditch.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Zack chastised.

"It's no big deal," Milo assured him, but Zack could still feel him trembling from exhaustion. "I have a high pain tolerance. I just wanted to get us both out of this ditch."

"And how are you supposed to do that if you collapse?" Zack demanded. As if on cue, he felt Milo's knees buckle underneath him. Zack grunted as he was almost pulled back down into the mud by Milo's body weight. He managed to keep himself and Milo upright until his friend found his legs again.

"O-okay, yeah, I could use a little help," Milo admitted sheepishly.

"You think?" Zack took a step forward and Milo followed his movements. Slowly, they continued to make their way up the ditch.

Panting heavily, both boys made it to the top. Milo collapsed to his knees and Zack followed suit.

"You okay?" Zack asked as Milo clutched at his torso.

"Yeah, don't worry," Milo said with a pained smile. "I'll just call up an ambulance and they can come get us."

Milo pulled out his phone and hit the first number on speed dial. He gave their location to the person on the other end named Nancy, who Milo seemed to have already known fairly well. (Milo even asked her how her granddaughter was doing. Apparently the granddaughter loved her first grade teacher and was excited about her birthday coming up this week.) Nancy assured them that an ambulance would be arriving shortly.

"Hello? Hello? Nancy?" Milo called into the phone.

"What's wrong?"

"She wanted me to stay on the line until the ambulance arrived, but I don't get the best cell coverage this far out." He closed his phone. "At least the ambulance will be here soon."

"Yeah, I hope they hurry," Zack agreed.

"Zack," Milo turned to face him. "I'm sorry about-"

"Stop apologizing for stuff that's not your fault," Zack interrupted with a wave of his good hand. "You know that bugs me."

Milo chuckled. "I know."

Zack let out a long groan. "Man this hurts," he said. "I don't know how you deal with broken bones constantly! We need to keep talking so I can distract myself."

"I'm just used to it, I guess."

"Remember when I broke my arm for the first time not long after we met?" Zack asked, and then let out a chuckle. "You thought I wouldn't want to hang out with you any more after that."

Milo laughed along with him. "That's because no one else would have."

Suddenly, this memory didn't seem as funny anymore as Zack turned to look over at his friend. "That's not true. Melissa-"

"Melissa's different," Milo corrected automatically.

"Yeah," Zack agreed. "She is." No matter how close he and Milo were, there were still years of bonding between Milo and Melissa that Zack never felt completely apart of.

"I just didn't realize that you were different too."

Zack's head snapped up to see Milo looking down at the ground with a far off smile. They were both injured, in pain, and in Zack's case, desperate to keep his mind off his arm. There would never be a better time to ask Milo and get a straight answer.

"Does it ever bother you?" Zack asked.

Milo looked up at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"That people avoid you. Does it bother you?"

Milo laughed at the question, but Zack wasn't surprised. Typical Milo response.

"Nah, it's okay, I get it, not everyone can handle Murphy's law all the time. Besides, I have you and Melissa."

Zack smiled. "Yeah, you do," he agreed. "But come on, there has to be something that gets you down about Murphy's law."

Milo shrugged, and then winced at his own movement. "Why? What's the point of thinking negatively about it? It's not going to change anything. I might as well enjoy all the fun and excitement."

"Good point. I know you like the Law, but there has to be at least one thing about it that you would change if you could," Zack pressed. His best friend was always optimistic about his curse, but Milo was still human. There had to be one thing that upset him.

Milo's eyes fell onto Zack's injured arm.

Surprised, Zack looked down at his own arm.

"Getting hurt?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't mind getting hurt. I just don't like it when other people get hurt because of me. I worry that someone will… will get really hurt, you know?" Milo hesitated. "More so than usual." Even though Milo didn't seem to want to say it, Zack had a feeling he knew what his friend was hinting at.

"But that wouldn't be your fault, you know that right?" Zack reasoned. "You can't control Murphy's law."

"No, but that doesn't change the fact that it wouldn't have happened if I wasn't there. After all, you wouldn't have that broken arm if it wasn't for me."

"I wouldn't have a best friend either," Zack pointed out without missing a beat.

Milo paused, his gaze falling to the floor.

"I just… if something really bad was to happen to you guys… I don't know. I try not to think about it." Milo said quietly to himself.

Zack racked his brain for something to say. Milo was usually the one with the optimistic reassurance, not him.

"Well, nothing really bad has happened yet, right? And what's a little mortal danger between friends?" Zack said as he nudged Milo with his shoulder. It was meant to be an affectionate gesture, but Milo gasped in pain. At the same time, Zack winced, having unintentionally jostled his own arm.

"Oww!"

"Ouch!"

"S-sorry," Zack apologized through his clenched teeth. "That wasn't the smartest move."

Milo let out a breathy laugh. "It's okay. And I guess you're right. After all, things have worked out so far! We've obviously been doing something right!"

Zack grinned back at his friend. It was nice to see Milo's optimistic attitude returning.

"Yeah, and honestly, if you worry about anyone, it should be yourself," Zack said. "You're the one that nearly dies almost every day."

"True! But everything always works out in the end. I guess I'm just really lucky."

Zack raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Lucky, huh? That's… one way to look at it."

"Probably the luckiest person in the world, actually," Milo continued. "I get to experience Murphy's law, I haven't died yet, and I have the two greatest best friends in the world!"

"We _are_ pretty great," Zack agreed.

The two boys looked up as the sounds of sirens reached their ears. They were a good quarter of a mile from the road, so it would still take a few more minutes for the paramedics to reach them once they parked.

"Thanks, Zack."

Zack scrunched his brow in confusion. "For what?"

"For sticking with me all this time, of course."

Zack scoffed. "Man, you don't have to thank me for that! You thank people for getting the door for you, not for being your friend. You make it sound like it's a chore, which it's not."

Milo seemed to consider Zack's words. "Okay, I guess you're right. Then instead of saying thanks, I'll say I'm sorry about your arm… you know, again."

Zack sighed. "I already told you I hate when you apologize for things like that."

"Then what am I supposed to say?"

"Nothing, man! We're best friends. You don't need to say anything! That's the point!"

"Oh…" Milo seemed to be mulling over something in his head. The ambulance had stopped on the street, and the two boys could hear the paramedics trudging through the woods towards them.

"How about this, then," Milo said, "There is no one else I would rather fall into a ditch and break a rib with?"

Zack laughed. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Well, at least my friends."

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 **I will probably write more MML stories in the future, but I might not post them here. The place I'll put them for sure is my tumblr maydaygirl-save-our-ships.**

 **Please don't forget to review!**


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